


Unwind, Stride On

by inanimeland



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Gen, I LOVE THE SEIJOU THIRD YEARS SO MUCH, I WILL MISS THEM, i originally wrote this for oikawa week but it mixed like 3 prompts together, this is set right before they graduate
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-15
Updated: 2016-07-15
Packaged: 2018-07-24 02:57:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,049
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7490562
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inanimeland/pseuds/inanimeland
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tooru doesn’t know what to expect when he first walks into the gym. It’s dark, the nets put away, and balls hidden somewhere behind closed doors. Tooru trudges forward. The ambiance of the room makes it feel like a funeral procession, the death of their volleyball.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Unwind, Stride On

The court is empty, quiet.

Tooru doesn’t know what to expect when he first walks into the gym. It’s dark, the nets put away, and balls hidden somewhere behind closed doors. Tooru trudges forward. The ambiance of the room makes it feel like a funeral procession, the death of their volleyball.

He sighs and takes a seat on the floor. Honestly, he is being too emotional over this but all the memories he’s made in this gym seemed as though they would haunt them for the rest of his life if he didn’t visit and find closure. Leaning back onto his hands, Tooru replays his- no, their- last high school match. He remembers that small, orange bundle of energy jumping high above the net and pinpointing his shot. Tooru also remembers calculating its destination, but a few fingers in the wrong place at the wrong time offset the course and trajectory. _No, it wasn’t that_ , Tooru thinks. Karasuno had simply just played well.

He continues to just sit and think. The mood is too somber, especially for him but he can’t help but feel that this chapter of his life was closing and that he just isn’t ready for whatever comes next. His phone begins to vibrate in his pocket. He elects to ignore it for now; _it’s probably just Iwa-chan._

Time continues to tick and the vibrating doesn’t stop. Tooru forces his mind to shift gears, to focus on the real reason he had come. He gets up with a thump and makes his way to the storage closet. It’s supposed to be locked, but Tooru came prepared. He’d have to thank Coach Irihata for allowing him to do this.

Tooru grabs one of the nets and heads out to set it up. He chuckles to himself when he realizes it takes much longer to set up the net alone than it did when he had others around him. Next up is the balls. He turns and walks back to the room, humming a little tune on the way. It’s been a while since it’s been just him and the gym. Tooru pushes the cart of balls to service area and picks one up.

He takes a deep breath and prepares himself to serve until he drops the ball. _Gotta warm-up or Iwa-chan would kill me_ , Tooru laughs a bit and starts to stretch. It’s weird not having to count out loud, he’s just too used to the team mentality. Tooru finishes with a grunt, like vocalizing something, anything, would help get rid of the quiet emptiness of the gym.

Tooru picks up the ball he dropped and focuses. Visualizing players on the other side always helped him practice his aim. Right now, Karasuno’s libero stands on the other side of him. Tooru pours his energy into his serve. No way would he allow even a fantasized version of the libero to receive his serve. It hits the ground with a thud. It had the accuracy but not the power that Tooru wanted. He sighs and tries again.

Ball after ball continues to fly over the net. The sound becomes a rhythmic beating that Tooru feels pumping through his veins. More power, more accuracy. He wants the perfect serve, one that could shut down any team before they have a chance to attack. Tooru can feel the energy radiating off of him. He is in the zone.

Now, Shiratorizawa’s libero stands before him. It had always aggravated Tooru to no end how smoothly Shiratorizawa functioned. It also serves to bring back him most recent memory with Ushijima. _I never thought my decision was wrong, and my volleyball hasn’t ended._ Tooru smirks. He means those words and whole-heartedly decided to continue down the path that he has chosen and one day he will bring Ushijima to his knees. That’s why he’s here throwing off any lasting shackles that might be trying to weigh him down.

He prepares to serve again, concentration intensifying. It’s almost frightening how focused he could be when he served. It’s almost like an out-of-body experience. Tooru throws the ball up and runs. The feeling of the ball making contact with his hand makes Tooru roar inside as he puts all his strength, his will into this one ball. It flies across the net and lands cleanly with a crash. Tooru is excited. The ball had power and accuracy. It was his most perfect serve to date. He’s about to cheer when someone beats him to it.

“Yes!” The husky voice fills the gymnasium and startles Tooru.

Tooru is about to grab the nearest ball and start chucking them at the intruder until the figure gets up and walks closer to him. Tooru immediately stares, shocked as Iwaizumi makes his way to him.

“Iwa-chan, what are you doing here?” Tooru is too stunned raise his voice above a whisper. “When did you get here?”

Iwaizumi tilts his head up and thinks about his answer. “I’ve been here since you got the balls out of the closet.”

“Why didn’t you say anything? You almost gave me a heart attack!” Tooru whines.

“I was about to when I saw that you were going to serve without warming up,” Iwaizumi glares at him, “but you seemed so focused that I decided to wait.” Iwaizumi pauses momentarily and gauges Tooru’s expressions before moving on. “Don’t be so confused, Bakakawa. That was a good serve.” And there it is. The smile that Iwaizumi reserves only for when he was feeling proud of Tooru.

Tooru feels like a rock that settled at the pit of his stomach was starting to be lifted away. He wants to say something, to reply in his usual manner but he is honestly too shocked at the fact that Iwaizumi had come and cheered him on, even though this was supposed to be Tooru’s getaway time.

Tooru was about to say something when the lights flicked on and the gymnasium came to life.

“You guys started without us?” Matsukawa walks in with Hanamaki in tow.

“No way,” Hanamaki starts, “It was probably just Oikawa overworking himself and Iwaizumi stopped him or something.” Hanamaki finishes with a snicker to himself.

“Makki? Mattsun?” Tooru’s brain goes into overdrive. “What are you all doing here?”

Iwaizumi, Matsukawa, and Hanamaki all take a minute to stare at each other like they were communicating with their eyes. As they came to their telepathic conclusion, Iwaizumi walks towards Tooru’s stuff and grabs his phone.

“Coach Irihata told us earlier today that you were going to stop by the gym,” Iwaizumi tosses Tooru his phone, “we all texted and called you a bunch of times to tell you that we were coming too.”

Tooru scrolls through his mass of texts.

From: Mattsun

_ Hey, have you left your place yet? _

From: Iwa-chan

_ You better not have overworked yourself by the time we get there! _

From: Mattsun

_ I’m just going to assume you’re at the gym already, I’ll be heading there soon. _

From: Makki

_ So sly of you to try to play on your own, Captain. Issei and I are on our way. _

From: Iwa-chan

_ Almost there, don’t forget to stretch. _

From: Makki

_ Heeeeeeey, Oikawaaaaa. Answer ussss. By the way, is Iwaizumi there yet? _

Tooru looks up from his phone, speechless. His friends are all wearing smiles, well smirks in Matsukawa and Hanamaki’s case, and jerseys.

“You better not be tired already,” Hanamaki begins.

“Cause we’re about to go two-on-two.” Matsukawa finishes.

“It’s better to have someone to receive your serve, isn’t it?” Iwaizumi asks, but Tooru knows by this point that it’s rhetorical, “anyways, isn’t this something that all four of us has done together since our first year? It’s our chance now, to play _our_ volleyball again.” Iwaizumi blushes a bit as he says that. It was more embarrassing than he had imagined it to be.

Tooru smiles. It’s not one of those smiles he plasters on for fans or uses as a self-defense, no, it is a genuine, uninhibited smile. “I call Mattsun!” He shouts.

“Yeah, sure,” Iwaizumi says, “we’ll start as soon as you pick up on those balls. By yourself.” He jeers.

“EEHH,” Tooru turns to Matsukawa.

“I wasn’t the one who let loose and used all those balls.” Matsukawa faces away from him.

“Captain, I know you’re getting old but hurry up or we’ll be here all night~” Hanamaki drags his words out with a smirk.

“Makki, rude.” Tooru pouts as he makes his way to pick up the balls. He can hear the three in the back laughing at him but he can’t find it in him to say anything about it. He’s happy that they came for him.

The four start their two-on-two and lose track of time. Each point is serious. Neither team wants to yield. It’s fun. The team members switch after the first pair makes it to 15. Tooru is paired with Iwaizumi next and knows what he has to do. It had been weighing on his mind since their match against Karasuno. Iwaizumi’s angst for not making that last toss count although it wasn’t his fault and no one blames him.

It’s match point for the Iwa/Oiks pair and Matsukawa is up to serve. Iwaizumi receives it flawlessly and directs it towards Tooru. Tooru pours his thoughts, his feeling into this set and sends it to Iwaizumi. It’s a perfect hit. It blows past Matsukawa and Hanamaki’s block and hits the ground with a thud. Iwaizumi and Tooru run up and high-five each other with grins stretching from ear-to-ear. Suddenly, weight pushes them forward as Hanamaki and Matsukawa come in for a group hug.

Tooru laughs and laughs until they all break away.

“I think it’s about time we leave, we have an early start tomorrow.” Hanamaki points out after he checks his phone.

“Ugh, it’s going to be a major pain in the ass,” Matsukawa groans.

“Don’t say that, it’s supposed to be a fun event!” Tooru chirps.

“Yeah, that’s why you came and locked yourself in the gym the night before right?” Iwaizumi teases.

“I did not lock myself in here, Iwa-chan! I just needed to get some stuff off my chest before we graduate.”

“Yeah, we know,” Iwaizumi answers strangely serious. “Did you get what you came for?”

Tooru glances around the gym. All the memories that he made in here, the long hours spent practicing, Iwa-chan forcing him to leave so that his body could actually rest, the jokes, laughs, and team dynamics. Tooru knows that he is going to miss all of it but after tonight, he knows he is leaving it on a good note. No more frustration that his serve wasn’t the best or that he wants to play with them longer. That ladder feeling will never go away, but he wants to cherish it. He’ll turn that into his strength and use it to push him forward. He looks his friends straight in the eyes.

 “Yeah, I got it.” Tooru stands firm.

“Oh, I half-expected you to cry,” Hanamaki says. “Don’t worry, you’ll forever be my captain~”

“When you say it like that, I kind of don’t want that title.” Tooru laughs.

“Guys, I hate to be the spoil-sport but we are graduating in like 4 hours. We should probably clean the place up and I have to key so we’ll lock up.” Matsukawa starts ushering them towards the net.

The four packs up quickly, three years of doing it have engraved the actions into their muscle memory. As they make their way out, Tooru looks back at the gym one last time. He’ll come back one day to support his alma mater, but he wants to burn this into his memory until then. That this place was their gym and how no one can take from him.

“Oikawa, what are you doing?” Matsukawa calls out.

“Stop reminiscing like your already in your thirties or something,”Hanamaki jokes.

“Hurry up before we leave you here,” Iwaizumi huffs.

Tooru looks for a few more seconds before he closes his eyes and whispers a soft _‘goodbye and thank you’_ for only the gym to hear. Tooru turns to look at his friends before running to catch up to them.

“Like you guys could ever leave me behind.”


End file.
